Beginning with the 2015 fall semester, two dozen Texas A&M medical students annually will get a shot at completing their degrees in clinical training and graduate research at Houston Methodist's flagship hospital and research institute in the Texas Medical Center.

Under an agreement signed Tuesday, the hospital system will accept students who finish the first two years of basic medical and preclinical training at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine in Bryan-College Station and want to complete their medical degrees or add three to four years of doctoral work at Houston Methodist Research Institute or the university's Institute for Biosciences and Technology in Houston.

More than 50 medical students across the country and Texas already come to Houston Methodist annually to complete degree-required clinical work. Dr. Marc Boom, the hospital system's president and CEO, said the new arrangement with Texas A&M will attract students who want training at one of the world's leading medical and research centers.

He said it also could help alleviate a national doctor shortage. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates the United States faces a shortage of more than 91,500 doctors, including primary care physicians, surgeons, cardiologists and oncologists, by 2020 and to more than 130,600 by 2025.

"We really need to tackle this problem, Boom said after a brief ceremony held for the partnership announcement, which included state officials and Houston Methodist, Texas A&M and Texas Medical Center leaders.

Dr. Brett Giroir, Texas A&M Health Science Center's CEO, said establishing a program with Houston Methodist was among his top priorities after he took over leadership late last year. He wants A&M medical students to have the chance to study, work and be involved in cutting-edge research and discoveries at what he believes is the state's top hospital in one of the world's leading medical centers.

"We knew immediately this was absolutely the right thing to do," Giroir said. "Houston Methodist is the No. 1 ranked hospital in Texas. The Texas Medical Center ... is the most important and influential medical address on the planet."

An estimated 7 million patients a year are treated at the Medical Center each year.

Texas A&M's partnership with Houston Methodist is similar to those the university has with other medical institutions across the state. All A&M medical students spend their first two years on campus. They finish their training at established health care facilities because the university doesn't operate its own hospital.

The partnership is part of a larger Houston expansion plan for the Texas A&M Health Science Center. The A&M center recently announced a two-year ground lease in the Texas Medical Center for future construction of a research and education building near the Albert B. Alkek building, the current location for the Texas A&M Institute for Bio- sciences and Technology. The lease is for $1 per year for 99 years.

Shan Gao, an A&M student completing her joint medical/doctoral degree, said she's heard talk about a possible Methodist-A&M partnership since her first year in 2008.

Students will find the arrangement appealing because applying laboratory research to patients in the same location, a renowned research and medical institution, will be a much smoother process, she said.

Boom called Houston Methodist a "hotly desired place to do research and care for patients who are incredibly sick."

"There's really an ability to see the vast complexity of health care," he said.